"She left me," he whispered, and the raw, wounded pride in his voice was so profound, so utterly human, it shocked her. "My wife. The Lady Seraphyne. Did you know she is the sister of the Duke of Ravenshade?"
Clara's mind reeled. The Duke? Isadora's Duke? This man, this cruel, possessive wolf, was his brother-in-law? The world was a smaller, more terrible place than she had ever imagined.
She had to keep him talking.
She feigned a look of wide-eyed, innocent sympathy, a trick Rulien had taught her. "She must be a great fool, my lord," she whispered, her voice soft as velvet, "to leave a man such as you."
Her words were the perfect fuel for his narcissistic rage.
"A fool?" he laughed, a bitter, humorless sound. "She is a goddess. And a whore. She left me for a mortal. A human pet. Can you imagine the humiliation? She has made a mockery of our house. Of me."
